This is the 14th novel of Sano Ichiro Mysteries. Sano Ichiro is the main hero again. A year has passed since the events chronicled in The Fire Kimono, but the calm that has prevailed since the shogun made Sano and his archrival, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, co-chamberlains is about to be shattered. Sano's estranged uncle, comes to him for help after the his 33-year-old daughter, Chiyo, disappears. Sano managed to find Chiyo, but not before she has been violated. The search for her assailant becomes more complicated once word reaches Sano that Chiyo was the third in a series of victims, following an elderly nun and a powerful gangster's teenage daughter.